Johan Willem "Wim" Beyen (2 May 1897 – 29 April 1976) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of Liberal signature and businessman. Beyen played an important role in the creation of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and is regarded as one of the

Founding fathers of the European Union Founding may refer to: * The formation of a corporation, government, or other organization * The laying of a building's foundation * The casting of materials in a mold See also * Foundation (disambiguation) * Incorporation (disambiguation) ...

Personalia

The official surname of Johan Willem (''Wim'') Beyen was ''Beijen'', but he preferred to write his name as Beyen because he thought that this name was more appropriate for his international connections (the "ij" digraph only occurs in Dutch). His father, Karel Hendrik Beijen, was a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

. He was the

company secretary A Company secretary is a senior position in the corporate governance of organizations, playing a crucial role in ensuring adherence to statutory and regulatory requirements. This position is integral to the efficient functioning of corporations, ...

of the

Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen The Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (; "Company for the Exploitation of the State Railways") or SS was a private rail transport, railroad founded to use the government funded railways. The company existed until 1938, when it fo ...

, one of the Dutch

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

companies. His mother, Louisa Maria Coenen, stemmed from a family of

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

s. He had two brothers. One of them was the

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Hendrik Gerard Beyen. In 1922, Wim Beyen married Petronella J.G. (''Nelly'') Hijmans van Anrooij. They had two sons and a daughter. At the end of the 1930s, Beyen had a relationship with the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n Margaretha Antonia (''Gretel'') Lubinka. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

his first marriage was dissolved and he married Gretel. This marriage was a very happy one. Wim Beyen died in 1976.

Education

Wim Beyen grew up in Utrecht and the neighbouring town of

Bilthoven Bilthoven is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Bilt. It has a railway station with connections to Utrecht (city), Utrecht, Amersfoort and Baarn. It is home to the Ne ...

. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

. In 1918, he was awarded a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in law.

Successful careers in the public and the private sector

After his study Beyen was engaged as a temporary assistant

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

at the Dutch

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

. At that time, he was only 21 years old. Within a few years, he rose to the rank of Deputy

Treasurer-General In the Netherlands the Treasurer-General (Dutch language, Dutch: ''thesaurier-generaal'') is the head of the General Treasury, part of the Ministry of Finance (Netherlands), Ministry of Finance. The holder of the office has a deputy and is a member ...

. After 1924, Beyen had several positions in the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

sector: secretary of the board of

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, head of the Dutch branch of the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, director of one of the predecessors of the

AMRO Bank The AMsterdamsche en ROtterdamsche Bank (AMRO Bank, ) was a major Dutch bank that was created in 1964 by the merger of the Amsterdamsche Bank (est. 1871) and the Rotterdamsche Bank (est. 1863). In 1991, it merged with Algemene Bank Nederland ( ...

, vice president and from 1937 president of the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, and director of

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

. During

, he was, in addition to his position at Unilever, a financial advisor to the

Dutch government in exile The Dutch government-in-exile (), also known as the London Cabinet (), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the German invasion of the country during World War II on 10 May 19 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1944, he headed the Dutch delegation to the

Bretton Woods Conference The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, to ...

where the foundations were laid for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

. From 1946, he was the Dutch representative in the board of the World Bank and from 1948 also in that of the IMF.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

In 1952 Wim Beyen, who did not belong to a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, was appointed

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in the

Second Drees cabinet The Second Drees Cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet, also called the Third Drees cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch Government from 2 September 1952 until 13 October 1956. The cabi ...

. He was asked in order to ensure a better balance of powers within the cabinet. It was an odd situation that

Joseph Luns Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns (; 28 August 191117 July 2002) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP), now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), diplomat, and jurist. He is the longest serving Secreta ...

, who was a member of the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party (, KVP) was a Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands, Catholic Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as ...

, was

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in the same Ministry. One of the jokes about this construction was "The Netherlands is so small, and therefore their foreign countries altogether are so large, that one Minister of Foreign Affairs is not enough." The relationship between both ministers was not too good, because they had a completely different style of operating and disagreed about several issues. Beyen, for instance, had serious objections to Luns's attitude in the disputes with

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

about

Netherlands New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea (, ) was the Western New Guinea, western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas administrative territorial entity, overseas territory of ...

. After the 1956 elections, Beyen's political career came to an end. There was no longer a need for a

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

minister in the cabinet.

Founder of European integration

Wim Beyen played a very important role in the creation of the

. In August 1954 the plans had collapsed to create a

European Political Community The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe, established in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The group first met in October 2022 in Prague, ...

and a common defence force, the

European Defence Community European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other We ...

, as a substitute for the national armies of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and the three

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

countries, when France refused to ratify the Treaty. Beyen realized that

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

in the political field would be impossible in the near future. He was convinced that had to be begun with economic cooperation and developed a plan that called for a European

common market A single market, sometimes called common market or internal market, is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of ...

, combined with the idea of a political community. He was in favour of

horizontal integration Horizontal integration is the process of a company increasing production of goods or services at the same level of the value chain, in the same industry. A company may do this via internal expansion or through mergers and acquisitions. The ...

instead of continuing with a sector-by-sector integration along the lines of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

(ECSC). On 4 April 1955 he sent a memorandum to his

colleagues

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) and

Joseph Bech Joseph Bech (17 February 1887 – 8 March 1975)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848." Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer. He was the prime minist ...

(

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

) in which he proposed his idea of a

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set u ...

. In a meeting of the three Foreign Ministers of the

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

on 23 April 1955 they drafted a joint memorandum to present to their colleagues of the ECSC. They finalized the memorandum (the Benelux memorandum) on 18 May 1955 and presented it to the governments of France, Germany and Italy on 20 May 1955. They proposed to discuss in a conference of the six participating countries of the ECSC the way towards a general integration of the

European economy The economy of Europe comprises about 748 million people in 50 countries. Throughout this article "Europe" and derivatives of the word are taken to include selected states whose territory is only partly in Europe, such as Turkey, Azerb ...

. This conference, the

Messina Conference The Messina Conference of 1955 was a meeting of the six member states of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The conference assessed the progress of the ECSC and, deciding that it was working well, proposed further European integrati ...

, was held from 1 to 3 June 1955. Beyen headed the Dutch delegation. The final resolution of the conference largely reflected Beyen's point of view. It formed the basis for further work to relaunch European integration and would lead to the

Treaties of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signe ...

in 1957 and the formation of the European Economic Community and Euratom in 1958.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. J.W. (Johan) Beyen
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Beyen, Johan 1897 births 1976 deaths Ambassadors of the Netherlands to France Ambassadors of the Netherlands to Germany Directors of Philips Dutch bankers Dutch corporate directors Dutch expatriates in England Dutch expatriates in Indonesia Dutch expatriates in Switzerland Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch financial advisors Dutch financial analysts Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch officials of the European Union Dutch lobbyists Dutch people of World War II European civil servants European Union diplomats European Union lobbyists European integration pioneers Financial economists Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Independent politicians in the Netherlands International economists International Monetary Fund people Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Monetarists Ministers of foreign affairs of the Netherlands People from De Bilt Politicians from Utrecht (city) Unilever people Utrecht University alumni World Bank people 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch politicians Member of the Mont Pelerin Society